Stripping

I use thinner to dissolve old paint. To protect my health I built a spraybooth which is force ventilated by an old kitchen hood. The metal plate below the cylinder block catches the dirt and used thinner as much as possible. It is nevertheless a dirty job.

Before and after. The results were encouraging, but I also found that the paint layer was thick and the base coat was even thicker.

Next the superstructure had its bath for a return to normality. The paint proved to be very tenacious.

Do not despair my friends. I just kept on brushing with two sizes of hard brushes. I worked from the rear to the front and on every pass more paint came away.

Meanwhile I dunked the small parts in a bottle to soak

Almost there. As I expected some small pipework came loose. Thinner makes the CA glue brittle. Somewhat unexpectedly the boiler as a whole broke away as well. I think this a big luck for my friend. If the boiler gives way so easily, it might have dislodged anyway after the model had been completed.

Well, as good as clean. Some work left to remove small scraps of paint here or there. The glass fibre pencil wil make short work of that.

Now the paint is gone the model reveals its intricate detail. It was completely buried under the layers of paint.

Finally I cleaned the frame. I first wanted to avoid that as the paint job in red didn't seem too bad. But once I had seen the amount of detail under the black I decided to clean the red parts as well. Better to start completely afresh.

I kept the parts in a box, first to keep them from wandering into the wide world without telling me where they were going, second to separate the work on hand and work done.